Lightning's Lesson
by Quazie89
Summary: In this sequel to Doc's Lesson and Getting Old, it's Lightning's turn to teach somebody a lesson, and this time it's Storm.


Hello, everybody! I wrote this story as sequel to Getting Old, which is a sequel to Doc's Lesson, and it is the third one in that series. I don't know what I'm calling it, yet, but it's probably going to be the last one, in that series, anyway. It continues where Getting Old left off and goes on from there. It's pretty much similar to the plot of Doc's Lesson, only Lightning is the one giving the advice now, and to Storm while he attacks him after he is left alone at Doc's Garage. I hope you enjoy the story!

Prologue

A couple of days ago, at the Igntr Racing Center...

"WHAT?!"

Sterling had been in the gym of the Igntr Racing Center, which he had bought from the previous owner after Tex Dinoco had bought the Rust-eze Racing Center and kicked him out of it, when he heard Storm's scream all way in the weight room, which was across the hall. Sterling went to go investigate the source of Storm's outburst.

"Why won't that old fart just give up and die already!"

It didn't take long for Sterling to find out what had spurned Storm's anger.

Sterling looked up, and saw Lightning McQueen on the television set. He was talking to Bob Cutlass and Darrell Cartrip, and he looked old. Sterling couldn't believe how old he looked. He was starting to make Sterling feel old. Time and age were starting to take their toll on Lightning McQueen, and it was a sad thing to see. "Why are you so worried about him, Storm?" he asked the infuriated racecar. "He looks like he's on his last lap!"

"I'm not worried about him!" Storm shouted, and, without warning, threw a nearby weight at him. "Why would I be worried about an old, washed-up, has-been like him?"

Sterling had asked himself the very same question, but decided it would be best not to tell Storm. For some reason, he didn't want to give Storm the satisfaction. "I don't know," he said instead.

"It's not that I'm scared of him!" Storm rounded on him. "It's that he let that little girl beat me, Sterling, and he's going to pay for that!"

Sterling dodged the flying weight, avoiding it by inches. "What are you going to do?" he asked, getting a very, bad feeling about this whole exchange. Whatever their differences, Lightning didn't deserve what Storm might have planned for him. The old car had been through enough.

"Never you mind," Storm said, charging out of the room. "I'm going to go take care of it myself!"

Not knowing what else to do, Sterling watched Storm leave, having never felt so helpless in his life.

For the first time in months, Lightning drove out of Doc's Garage, with Sally by his side, blinking the blinding sunlight out of his eyes.

Sally, seeing he was still trying to adjust to being outside after being cooped up in Doc's garage for so long, kissed him on the fender. "That's what happens when you stay cooped up inside one place for too long." she said, a genuine, sympathetic expression crossing her grill.

Lightning chuckled. "I know," he said, and smiled at her, kissing her back on her own fender. "I'm glad you came and talked some sense into me."

Sally pressed herself up against Lightning's side in order to support him and hold him up, knowing his axles would be too stiff for him to be able to move. "That's why you should always listen to me," she said, pushing him along, grunting from the exertion and strain pulling off such a miraculous feat was causing her.

"I always listen to you, honey," Lightning said, panting for breath. "It's just like you always say, I'm just stubborn and don't always like to do as you say."

Sally stopped for a moment to rest, gasping and wheezing, completely exhausted. "Don't I ever know that," she said, once she had managed to catch her breath and get her bearings back. "Wait right here, Stickers." She started on ahead of Lightning for a little ways, turning her grill back around to face him before she got too far. "I'm going to go get Mater."

"That would be great," Lightning said, gasping for air, feeling as if he couldn't move another inch. His axles were killing him.

Sally gave him a sad, small, smile. "I know it's easier said than done, especially at a time like this, but try not to worry too much," she said, and grimaced. "It'll only make you hurt worse." She revved up her sputtering engine the best she could and drove away, trying hard not to look back at Lightning, knowing she would never get back to Radiator Springs if she did.

It hurt too much to leave him, so helpless and alone, but she knew she had little choice if she wanted to help him, and she did. She wanted to do everything she could to help him. He was her 'Stickers,' after all, and she would do anything to help him.

Sally felt tears running down her windshield, and furiously blinked them out of her eyes, struggling to see the path ahead of her.

She just hoped her 'Stickers' would still be where she had left him when she returned to the garage. She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling her intuition was telling her everything was about to go very, very wrong, and she would pay the ultimate price for abandoning him.

"You made me look like a fool."

Lightning heard the deep, unsettling voice coming from somewhere behind him, not long after Sally had left, thinking it sounded all-too familiar. When he turned around to search for its owner, he found a pair of slanted, devious eyes glowing at him from the depths of the darkness.

Even without seeing the rest of the vehicle, Lightning knew which one it was. "Storm," he said, his voice a hoarse whisper.

Storm drove out of the darkness, his hard, icy eyes glowing with a chilling, calculating menace, his wide, leering, shark-like grin stretching all the way across his grill.

"Leave me alone, Storm," Lightning said, trying to back away from the younger car. "I'm not looking for a fight. I'm too old to fight. Too old, slow, and tired." He felt a drawn, shaky grin pull at the corners of his mouth, a sudden, but wonderful idea coming unexpectedly to him, and he gave Storm the same advice a very old, but good friend had told him once, so very long ago now, it seemed. "And one day you'll become old, too, and get slow and tired, just like me."

Lightning felt a gleeful sense of satisfaction when he saw what looked like a rare, brief look of terror cross over Storm's usually, haughty grill, but his short moment of triumph didn't last.

"You've got to be kidding me, McQueen," Storm said, and just like that, the expression of fear that had been just on his grill only seconds ago was gone as soon as it had appeared, almost if it had never been there in the first place, his cocky attitude coming back to the forefront. "I'll never be as old and slow and tired as you." He whooped with joy. "I'm top of the line, baby!"

"I said the same thing once," Lightning said, now experiencing the same joy Doc must've felt when the old man had given him the very same lesson he was giving Storm. He found himself missing the late, great Hudson Hornet more than ever, wishing he could've been there to see him at that moment, no matter how busted, and dent-up he must've looked. He thought Doc would've been proud of him.

Storm looked scared again, and he began to sputter. "Enough!" He somehow managed to compose himself, hardening the lost, vulnerable expression on his grill and making it impassive, banishing all traces of the sheer fright that had been there just moments ago. "I'm not taking this from you, old man!"

"Storm, please," Lightning begged, trembling. "I just want to be left alone."

"You're weak," Storm said, circling him. "You let a girl win a race for you!" He laughed. "A girl!"

"Cruz is a lot tougher than you think," Lightning said, feeling the need to defend his friend. "Just because she's a girl doesn't make her weak. Don't underestimate her."

"Please," Storm said, with a scoff, and rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you believe that crap."

"I do," Lighting said, not ashamed to admit to it. Cruz had proven herself a capable racer a long time ago.

"You make me sick," Storm said, and sped forward, toward Lightning.

"Storm, don't-" Lightning began to protest, but didn't have time to finish.

Without warning, Storm ran himself into Lightning's side, sending him careening into the side of Doc's Garage.

Lightning hit the wall with surprising force, and slid down it, his frame collapsing and sinking all the way to the ground. He emitted a painted grunt, and struggled to rise, but failed.

"You're in bad shape, Lightning McQueen," Storm said, his voice filled with malicious glee.

"Ouch..." Lightning said, once he had managed to get his breath back, but winced. "Oh, man…that hurt…"

"Not as much as this is going to," Storm said, and rammed Lightning into the wall again, harder this time, and Lightning screamed. He could hear his frame popping and cracking as it was crushed further against the wall.

Storm pulled up to him and stared down at him, smirking. "I would like to see you and your little girl car beat me now, you old rusted piece of junk!" After delivering this last insult, Storm turned and spun away, leaving Lightning to fight for his life alone.

Through his rapidly fading vision, Lightning saw Storm leave, but darkness had already settled in, and it had started to rain.

When Lightning came to, he found himself, not for the first time in his life and probably most certainly not the last, once again in a hospital room.

Sally was the first thing he saw when he woke up. "Stickers!" Resting against his side, she glanced over at him, her grill wearing a worried expression. "Are you okay?"

Lightning moaned, wincing at a sudden, unbearable pain he felt shooting up both his sides. "I'm not for sure, yet," he said, struggling to blink his fluttering, heavy-lidded eyes open, and yawned. "Ask me later when I get more woke up."

Sally gave him a slow, sad smile. "I'm sorry you have to go through this again, Stickers," she said, recalling the dark, lengthy time he had been in the hospital after his wreck. "Nobody should have to go through what you've gone through."

Lightning finally managed to pry his tight, stubborn eyes open at last. "I know, but you don't have to apologize," he said, once he had finally managed to blink the blurriness out of his gaze and bring Sally back into focus. "It wasn't you're fault."

"I got some good news, though," Sally said, a false cheerfulness in her voice.

"What?" Lightning asked, raising a questioning eyelid at her.

"Sherriff arrested Storm," Sally said, laughing softly. "They're going to see if they can charge him with assault and battery."

Lightning snorted. "Good," he said, somewhat comforted by this unexpected, but welcoming news. "He deserves it."

"So, hopefully all of this will have a happy ending," Sally said, kissing him on the fender.

"Yeah," Lightning said, and collapsed against Sally's side, giving into his exhaustion at last. "Hopefully." He kissed her back and let his eyes flutter shut it again, feeling lucky and grateful to have a car like her to always be there for him.

He fell asleep, feeling like, even though it might've not exactly been perfect, he already had his happy ending

The End


End file.
